by Stuart Weir
Gabby Thomas opened her 2023 season with a fine win at 300 meters at the 2023 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Gabby started the season off well with this win. Stuart Weir wrote this piece on Gabby Thomas and her runs in 2022.
How will she do this season?
Gabby Thomas
It was good to see Gabby Thomas record a victory in the 300 at the NB Indoor Grand Prix (36.31). Aged 26 she has a PR in the 100m of 11.00 (10.8 windy), 21.61 in the 200m, and 51.15 at 400m. She took silver in the Olympic 200 in Tokyo and was in the US 4 by 100 relay team in those Olympics.
I had the opportunity of chat to with her in Birmingham last year when she told me that she Now doing a Master’s in epidemiology looking at how Covid affected different groups in the USA. I asked if she was a full-time athlete or a full-time student. The answer was both! “I have been doing it for a while. When I was at Harvard, I ran track so I am used to it. It was my lifestyle. Balancing it is just about doing what I love. It is great to go from track practice to studies. I have a bad track session, but instead of going home and thinking about it, over and over again, I get on with my academic work. And instead of sitting around when I have done my work, I get to go out and do track. I am just one of those people who needs that kind of balance in their life and I really appreciate that”.
Winning races is a focus for her, she explained: “Of course, I would love to go sub 11 at some point but I can’t focus on that. I just want to concentrate on the competition I am facing”. I have this thing, with Dina Asher-Smith, that I ask her if she s better at 1oo or 200 and she replies that she does not know! I had a sense of déjà vu when I asked Gabby which distance she preferred: “That is hard to say. The 200 is my pride and joy. I execute it so well and do it like a walk now. It is my favorite race. But the 100 is so exciting, and it comes with so much energy and everyone wants to watch it. So I would love to be a part of that. I think my start is very efficient. It may not look as quick but obviously, it works as I am winning races. It can always improve and it is improving and I am always working on it”.
Then there is the question of which is the best relay leg for a 200 specialist. Gabby told me: “They usually put me on the second leg or anchor. Second because it is longer and I have the 200 stamina but the anchor is what they put me on in Tokyo. My legs are long so the bends are really challenging for me in the 200”.
An engaging interviewee. I hope our paths cross sometime this year.
Here’s the video, courtesy of NBC Sports, via twitter, of Gabby’s opening 300m in 2023!
36.31 seconds for @ItsGabrielleT to win the 300m at the @NBIndoorGP! pic.twitter.com/2TiNoNaT66
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 4, 2023
